2024-10-30 00:27:00
Kamala Harris warned against this attempt Donald Trump to seize “unchecked power” in a fiery speech Tuesday at the site where his rival infuriated a mob before the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
“This is an unstable person, obsessed with revenge, consumed by resentment and seeking uncontrolled power,” he said. “But, America, I stand here tonight to say: That’s not who we are,” Harris said before a huge crowd of supporters waving flags against the imposing backdrop of the White House in Washington.
The campaign says so 75,000 people attended the demonstrationwhich comes just a week before the current Democratic vice president faces the former Republican president in the closest and most volatile election in modern times. The number was not immediately verifiable, but the crowd was unusually large in an election that had already generated great enthusiasm.
The choice of the Ellipse, a park that connects the White House to the imposing National Mall, was a direct attempt by his campaign to remind voters of the chaos caused by Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat to Joe Biden .
After Trump urged his supporters in a speech to “fight like hell,” many marched on the Capitol to disrupt the certification of Biden’s victory, in an assault that It left 140 police officers injured and shocked the world.
The choice of location (the White House illuminated with the night in the background) was also a symbolic strategy to demonstrate that Harris is ready for the presidency.
Speaking from behind bulletproof screens next to blue signs reading “Freedom,” Harris promised to be a “president for all Americans”unlike Trump, who he accused of wanting to imprison his enemies.
And although his speech began with a dramatic critique of Trump’s behavior, he soon transitioned into a detailed summary of his plans to help middle-class Americans facing economic hardship.
He received some of the biggest applause when he spoke about the Republican effort to limit abortion, saying the government shouldn’t “tell women what to do with their bodies.” The enthusiastic crowd spread beyond the Ellipse, across the Mall and up to the Washington Monument’s iconic obelisk, AFP journalists said.
Although nearly a week later, Harris’ campaign billed the speech as a “closing argument,” a nod to her career as a prosecutor.
“I think this is a cleanup of what happened on January 6th”he said Mitzi Maxwell69 years old, came from Florida with her mother to see “all the love, passion and excitement that she (Harris) has become known for.”
Some Harris supporters lined up for more than seven hours before the speech, whose size and energy were a direct challenge to Trump, a politician who has always prided himself on his ability to draw crowds.
Trump attempted to undermine Harris’ speech with a campaign event of his own, in front of a room full of supporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
His comments came as he tried to calm the uproar at his weekend rally at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden, where a comedian playing the opening act joked that Puerto Rico was a “floating island of rubbish”. Trump called the New York event a “love fest,” the same phrase he used to describe the Capitol riots. “His message was a message of hatred and division,” Trump said.
The Republican met later in the working-class town of Allentown, Pennsylvania, perhaps the most crucial of the seven battleground states expected to decide the election, and a city that is home to a large Puerto Rican community.
Fears of a repeat of the chaos of four years ago loom over this year’s election, and Trump has repeatedly indicated he may again refuse to accept the result if he loses.
On Tuesday, Trump seized on reports that Pennsylvania authorities had seized hundreds of potentially fraudulent voter registration forms. “Really bad things. WHAT’S HAPPENING IN PENNSYLVANIA?” he said on the social network X, formerly Twitter.
Trump survived two assassination attempts, while Harris replaced Biden as head of the Democratic Party following his surprise exit from the White House race in July.
More than 50 million people have already voted early, according to Tuesday’s data, almost a third of the total number of voters four years ago. The final days of the campaign will see both candidates engaged in a grueling final tour of the battlefields.
Actress and singer Jennifer Lopez will join Harris in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday, her campaign announced, in an effort to reach young and Latino voters.
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